Back to School Prayers


A few weeks ago my bishop asked if I'd craft a collection of Back to School Prayers in my new role as Scholar in Residence for Arts, Media, and Culture for the diocese. I was grateful for the opportunity and ended up writing six prayers: prayers for kids schooling at home and going off to school, a prayer for high school and college students, and prayers for parents, teachers, and school administrators. 

Christianity Today offered to re-publish these prayers and requested a few new ones. I added a "Prayer for a New Day," a "Prayer for Nightly Care," a "Prayer for a Time of Pestilence," and a "Prayer for Teachers" that they might pray for themselves. My favorite perhaps is the "Prayer for Frustrated School-Related Relationships," of which there are plenty today and there will be plenty more, I imagine, in the weeks to come. The prayer goes like this:

"O Lord, you who told us that we would have trouble in this world, we confess to you our worries over things that we cannot control, our distress over things that seem wrongheaded, and our frustration with those who oppose us on things that we hold dearly. Grant us the ability to bear with one another in love, and may the peace of Christ guard our hearts, so that together we might trust your leading and walk in the way of unity that only the Spirit of God can make possible. Amen."

You can find all the prayers here.

Yesterday I wrote a Prayer for the Bewitching Hour, which in our house is usually 5:00 PM, when our children magically turn into feral creatures and refuse to think logically or practically about anything whatsoever. I figured a few of us might need such a prayer in our hour of need. Here it is:

"Dear God, I’m going crazy, please help me. Keep me from doing something stupid. Be with me. Speak your word of peace to my heart. Lord, save me. #$@&%*! HELP! AMEN! THANK YOU!"

A last thing to share here. The good people at Trinity Anglican in Thomasville, Georgia, (and Catherine Miller in particular) took my Back to School prayers and gave them a graphic makeover. I've included below a few examples of them. As with all these prayers, please feel free to share them with anybody that might find them helpful in these strange and stressful times. 









Comments

Bryan Waters said…
David, I hope you are doing well. I crossed paths with you at Hope Chapel many years ago. I have a friend who is looking for a traditional but rich church as part of his journey back to faith. Is there an Anglican church in the Austin area you could recommend. I knew you worked at one but don't remember which.
Kchue said…
Love these back to school prayers. Would love to share them with my pastor, Keion Henderson - houston pastor at https://lhhouston.church/
Don Davies said…
Thanks for sharing this. My kids are already going back to school and I also had several similar prayers and sermons from our Houston Pastor Keion, https://www.keionhenderson.com/. I really had to do pray with the kids to really give them the strength to go on back to school after such a long time!
Thanks fantastic, Don. So great to hear!
Adam said…
Appreciating the time and effort you put into your blog and in depth information about catholic theology . I would also like to recommend master of arts in pastoral studies

Popular Posts